The sharp increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Canada in 2022 has indeed had a significant impact on the ability of Canadians to meet their expenses considered necessary, according to what Statistics Canada confirms in published data. Tuesday.
The federal agency reports that in the summer of 2021, 48% of the population lived in a household that found it easy or very easy to meet necessary expenses. By the end of last year, that figure had plummeted to less than a third, or 29%.
Statistics Canada finds that this increase in the degree of financial hardship is consistent with results from the Labor Force Survey which show that more than a third of the population was experiencing financial hardship in October 2022, compared to a fifth in October 2020.
In 2022, the CPI increased by 6.8%, which was the highest increase since 1982, which had been 10.9%. The prices of everyday goods and services increased the most, including transportation, by 10.6%, food, by 8.9% and housing, by 6.9%.
Data from the Canadian Social Survey (CSS) reveal that the proportion of people aged 15 and over living in a household having difficulty meeting their necessary expenses has shown an upward trend, from 19% in the summer of 2021 to 24% last summer. At the end of 2022, 35% of the population lived in such a household.
Last fall, adults aged 25 to 54 were more likely to live in a household that found it very hard or difficult to meet their financial needs, ahead of people aged 15 and older looking for work, renters, recent immigrants and people living with children.
Data from the federal agency also illustrates that 39% of the racialized population said that their household had difficulty meeting its financial needs, in particular black Canadians and those of South Asian origin.
On the other hand, at 44%, Aboriginal people were more likely to experience financial hardship than the non-Aboriginal population, at 35%.